Xinpu Visitor's CenterPlace of visit : Tourist Center, Xinpu Township, Hsinchu County
The tourist center of Xinpu is a Hakka style building, the appearance resembles ancient times. It attracts the tourists by the big water pear and the persimmon mascots by the entrance, which symbolizes the Hakka spirit of “abundantly, hospitality, heritage”.
In the exhibition hall it showcased the daily necessities which Hakka residents used decades ago. We also saw the tools and furniture in the ancient times that Hakka people made with wood and bushes under limited resources. It also recreated the past scene where Hakka people prepared the tea and the stools under the tree to offer a rest spot for workers and travelers. The old saying is “take a seat, drink a cup of tea”. We also saw detailed introduction of Hakka cuisine. By visit this tourist center, you can learn Xinpu town from historical perspectives, understand the ancient Hakka habits and customs and the culture, as well as know each kind of Hakka cuisine, and the scenery spots. It is highly recommended to visit the Tourist Center first when you travel to Xinpu. |
Visit Cultural WorkerDate:1st Dec, 2018
Venue:The Dormitory of Xinpu Elementary School Principals Respondent:Ms. Pao-chuan Chang Interviewer:Wen-wei Lu、Wen-chi Lu、Yi-chieh Chen、Yi-yen Chen、I-wei Ho、Yueh-tzu Lee、Bing-yan Ho、Hung-chang Lo Ms. Pao-Chuan Chang was an elementary school teacher for 26 years, and devoted to art education. Her passion for preservation of monuments has led to her effort in promoting the beauty of historic assets, as well as being a curator of Tamsui Tamsui Historical Museum, the chief secretary of New Taipei City Government Cultural Affairs Department, and the director of Xinpu Hakka Action Museum Project.
During the interview, she had walked us through 200 years of Hakka history in Xinpu, starting from the migration from China to Taiwan. It was a difficult time for the early Hakka clans as they had to fight with other clans for farm lands and resources. This had united the Hakka clans and transformed into a family value for the Hakka culture. In addition, Ms. Chang also shared some difficulties in the preservation of monuments. The cost to repair or preserve a historic monument can be significant, and it is often not a priority in government’s infrastructure plans. The owners also have strong desire to transform historic buildings into modern buildings, making it more difficult to preserve monuments with historic value. After learning from Ms. Chang’s detail explanation, there is value added to Xinpu’s cultural landmarks such as the 3 streets, 6 lanes and 9 ancestral shrines. We strongly agree it is worth the effort to preserve these Hakka culture and shines. Therefore we hope to support Ms. Chang’s and Hakka residents’ effort by setting up a web site to promote Xinpu’s Hakka culture to more foreigners. Questions & Answers:Q1: How to revitalize Xinpu township and prevent the declined of old streets?
A: The key to revitalization is highly correlated to economic condition. Other than upgrading the hardware such as public infrastructure, parking lots, and public restrooms, it is also important to raise the mentality and spiritual level. Let people feel the wealth increase benefit to local business. Q2: How can we preserve the old buildings while bridge a connection to the modern buildings when going through urbanization? A: The old buildings in Xinpu not only enrich the streets, but also mark Xinpu’s history. However, many locals want to demolish the old buildings to build new ones. With careful inspection and repair works, we hope to bring these historic buildings back their glory to present time. Q3: Have you encountered any difficulty with preservation and promotion of Xinpu historic assets? A: The most difficult part is to convince locals to transform old business and store to attract tourists, and to open up the family ancestral shrines to outsiders to allow people to learn more about Xinpu’s cultural characteristics. We are also looking forward to promote Xinpu’s history to the world through younger generation’s participation in international competitions. Q4: You have seen many cultural monuments in Taiwan, what do you think is the most unique feature of the Hakka ancestral shrines in Xinpu? A: The biggest difference and the most unique feature that is worthy of promotion is Hakka people’s value of filial piety of the ancestors and the clan. In the Hakka tradition, every year the clans gather at the ancestral shrine on the same day to pay respect to their ancestors, not only to cherish the ancestors, but also to strengthen the family bond. Q5: In what ways do you use to create and promote community life aesthetics in Xinpu? A: Xinpu’s characteristics need to be recognized by residents, or they may be destroyed by short-sightedness. Therefore, we can create community aesthetics through the following ways to awaken residents' recognition of the culture and willingness to promote it outward. 1. Establish a local workstation as a communication platform. 2. Collect old stories and investigate old stores with over 50 years existence. 3. Repair old buildings, such as the Presbyterian Church and Pan-Jin-He Former Residence. 4. Field research of Traditional festival. 5.Sacrifice ritual training. 6.Construction of the street corner museum. 7.Introduce heritage promotion to campus. 8.Sharing of old school style skills and techniques, such as sugar tower and pickles. 9. Promote stories and guides of ancestral shrines through internet and host international workshops. 10. Create a mobile slogan and promote the Xinpu culture with the main theme of "Three Streets, Six Lanes and Nine Ancestral shrines". Q6: Ancestral Shrine Museum of Xinpu is a successful case of integration of historical building into modern community. How do you act as a bridge between the government agencies and the family clans in the process of integrating the nine ancestral shrines? A: The most important thing is "sincerity" and makes best effort to impress the family clans. For example, the Liu Family had not held ancestral ritual in 40 years. After a year of hard work and negotiation, the family held the first ritual in 42nd year and it became a yearly event. I am grateful of the outcome of the case. |
The descendent of former Hsin-pu Elementary School Principal
Date: November 25, 2018 13:30p.m.13:30
Venue: Taipei Fuhsing Private Shool Respondent: Mr. Lu Hua-Cheng (grandson of former principal of Hsin-pu Elementary School) Attendants:Wen-wei Lu、Wen-chi Lu、Yi-chieh Chen、Yi-yen Chen、I-wei Ho、Yueh-tzu Lee、Bing-yan Ho、Hung- chang Lo In this interview, we are honored to invite Mr. Lu, Hua-Cheng (grandson of former principal of Hsin-pu Elementary School) to share his experience and story.
Mr. Lu and his grandfather had lived in the elementary dormitory for many years. At that time, most houses in the area were Japanese style architecture. Most of the Japanese architectures were demolished, the dormitory is the only building remained. The dormitory has become a landmark promoting stories about Xinpu township’s history and the Hakka culture to out of towners.
Mr. Lu taught us how to say greetings in Hakka, a very interesting pronunciation with a tongue twist. He also taught us a Hakka song. The song is about the difficult time their ancestors experience after they travelled across the sea from Mainland China to Taiwan. Mr. Lu encouraged us to learn from ancestors’ virtues and to get to know more about the Hakka culture. We have gained a lot through our interview with Mr. Lu. Questions & Answers:Q1: Principal Lu had to manage Hsin-Pu Elementary School and Nu-Chao Academy at the same time. Was there anything that impressed you?
A: With the army just retreated to Xinpu township, the Nu-Chao School was set up by the army after they settled down. I had deep impression that most of the soldiers only spoke Hakka, they did not speak Mandarin at all. The language barrier had resulted in many misunderstanding. We had to rely on Principal Lu to translate and resolve the language barrier. Q2: The principal dormitory was rebuilt to Xinpu Ancestral Hall Museum, in your opinion, what is the effect of this transformation to Xinpu residents and out of towners? A: My family moved into the dormitory in 1946 and lived there for a long period of time. I hope the Xinpu Ancestral Hall Museum can promote stories about Xinpu township’s history, efforts made by predecessors, and the Hakka culture to out of towners. Q3: The town office has plan to transform 100-year-old Japanese style principal dormitory into hotel, hoping it would stimulate local tourism. What is your opinion on this plan? A: Xinpu township has many ecological conservation with little pollution from production plants. The hotel can allow people to have a chance to explore unique Japanese style building and sleep on tatami while listening to the nature’s melodies. I have positive view on this plan as it can provide a very special experience.
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Historical Worker InterviewDate:1st Dec, 2018
Venue: Xinpu Ancestral Shrine Museum Respondent:Mr. Wu Kai-Hsuan Interviewer:Wen-wei Lu、Wen-chi Lu、Yi-chieh Chen、Yi-yen Chen、I-wei Ho、Yueh-tzu Lee、Bing-yan Ho、Hung- chang Lo Questions & Answers:Q1: How to promote the unique Hakka culture of Xinpu with young people's perspective and marketing style?
A: For me, what is unique about Xinpu is not so much about Hakka, but rather is its history. During the Japanese occupation, Xinpu was a very prosperous place. Even now such prosperous traces are still hidden in the seemingly dull town. The cultural slogan of "Three Streets, Six Lanes, Nine Ancestral Shrines" promoted by the Hsinchu County Cultural Bureau is also related to this point. Only places that had been lively and wealthy would have streets with many ancestral shrines. I hope, under the premise of not disturbing the pace of life, that the cultural characteristics and unique humanistic textures of Xinpu can be discovered and appreciated. In terms of methods, all the tools available in the information age can be useful, especially on the Internet. Web page or social media is fairly easy to use and the cost is very low. We can market activities, tour guides, and accommodation on the Internet. Q2: Is there any difficulty in promoting the Hakka Ancestral Shine culture in Xinpu? A: With the modernization, the structure of property and family has changed, probably through entire Taiwan. It is inevitable to feel somewhat out of time and place to talk about “the ancestral culture” in the modern society. The ancestral shrine’s image of a united family is much weaker than before. Now it feels more like an organization that manages the ancestral property, subordinated to economic interests. Therefore, the value of ancestral shrine is not about age order or respect. “Home” is still important, as well as the connection between people. It requires some thinking to change the perspective. If more people can overcome this, there will be less people with the opinion of “what is the point of looking at other people’s ancestral memorial tablets?”. Q3: Among the nine ancestral shrines, which one is the most impressive in your opinion? A: For me, the most impressive one is Fangliao’s Twin Halls of Liu’s Family. The reason is it is a house that can accommodate a big family. Among the nine ancestral shrines, back then there was relatively no money, bigger house simply implies there are many family members. Even now, there are still people living in there. The administrators and elders are still hanging out there. The place gives you a lively feeling, and that is very good. Q4: Transforming the Hsinpu Elementary School’s principal dormitory into a hotel, hoping to revitalize the light tourism in Xinpu township, what difficulties will it face in the transforming process? A: During the soft opening, the biggest difficulty is to find a balance between daytime business operation and evening accommodation. Based on current operation, the guests who stay overnight have to adjust their schedule as the place is open to public in the morning. This probably will compress the comfort of the stay. Therefore, the Xinpu Ancestral Shrine Museum has to provide some unique cultural experience that makes it worthwhile for tourists to accept the inconvenience. This is the biggest challenge for us now. |
Questionnaire Survey |
The purpose of this questionnaire is to find out how people know about Xinpu Hakka culture. We issued 100 questionnaires and collected 88 valid samples from Xinpu main street on weekends, and the result is analyzed below. Most of the people agreed that the family spirit of Xinpu people with ancestor shrine is a very great tradition, and agreed with the exhibition of “Ancestral Shrine Museum of Xinpu”. They also thought that ancestor shrines are the most impressive things of Hakka traditional culture, and was the most representative historical landscape in Xinpu. The most popular Hakka food was persimmon cake, followed by tian ban (sweet rice cake made with japonica rice). Although most of the people were willing to visit Xinpu again, only less than half of them thought that they understood well about the Hakka culture in Xinpu, and only 1/3 of the people came here for travel. Through the result, we think Xinpu ancestor shrines and Hakka family spirit are precious historical assets, but it needs more promotion activities to let more people know these are good places to visit. So we think the website that we constructed in this project will be very helpful for promoting Xinpu.
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